Nick Hobbs aka Nikolai Galen is British, living in Istanbul, a singer, writer, actor and music organizer.

He has sung or sings with Kropparna, The Shrubs, Mecca, Infidel, Galen-Sadko, Galen-Klyushnikov, Black Paintings, Transsonance, Hel-Kugel & solo. He has performed with the Romanian contemporary-music group Hyperion Ensemble. As well as seven-or-so composed albums, he has recorded three improvised-voice records and is working on others. Together with a Turkish musician, he is working on an album of songs.

He has acted in various Pantheatre productions: Nero, La Planque Aux Anges, Shadow Boxing, Stealing The Show and Pandora's Box.

His writings include the lyrics of his records, the solo performance piece God Is A Shareholder about contemporary Russia (premiered at the New York Knitting Factory in 1998, performed intermittently thereafter, and broadcast in a live radio version on Resonance FM, London, in 2002), the text, about love and power, of Pandora's Box (performed in the UK during 2000 and 2001), and Shut Your Eyes, an exploration of sexual relations (premiered at the Myth & Theatre Festival, Mal?rargues, 2007). He is working on a film version of Shut Your Eyes, and a play about politics.

Drawing on thousands of records collected from all over the world, he programmes music for theatre & dance performances and workshops.

He studied voice, theatre and movement with, amongst others, Angela Caine, Richard Roberts, Venice Manley, members of the Roy Hart Theatre, Bert van Dijk, Nick Nuttgens, Philippe Gaulier, Ray Baskerville, and Pantheatre, and practises Vinyassa Yoga. He was a member of The Alchemical Theatre (London) and Pantheatre UK, and worked with Borderline Theatre (Paris). He is a member of the Roy Hart Theatre, the Society for Ethnomusicology, the International Council for Traditional Music, and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music.

At the invitation of Pantheatre (Paris & Mal?rargues), Resonance FM (London), the Centre for Performance Research (Aberystwyth) and MIAM (Music Department of the Istanbul Technical University) he has given a variety of lectures on extraordinary voices in popular and ethnic music. He leads the occasional, free-improvising Shady Choir. He writes for the world-music magazine fRoots. He runs his own concert-management company, Charmenko, working mainly in Eastern Europe & the Middle East. He is an amateur linguist and photographer. His website www.voiceofshade.net is always under construction.